The Long March is over and the Communists are holed up in Shaanxi province (not to be confused with Shanxi) and are surely at the limit of their endurance and ragged strength. However, matters are seldom straightforward in such a fragmented nation…

Welcome to the first instalment of The Three Principles, the long awaited AAR written by myself and /u/kaiservonikapoc. With the state of the game improving and numerous modifications further improving the overall experience, I decided to end Between the Seas for the foreseeable future and move on to the project I really wanted to do in the first place.

Modifications used:

Improved AI Research and Division Tweaks

Improved Peace Conference AI

Coloured Buttons

Accurate flags for Japan and Communist China.

DzK Better Counters

More Theatre Icons

Flavour Names Extended

[World Press Mod] Shen Bao

No Man’s Land (Adds HoI3 style impassable provinces.)

During the revolution that toppled the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Sun Yat-Sen intended to implement the Three Principles of the People:

1) Mínzú (Nationalism) China must create a national identity that includes all of the five races and unifies them.

2) Mínquán (Democracy) The people must have the political means to express their wishes and guarantee their rights.

3) Mínshēng (The people’s welfare) This principle seeks to create fair land taxation through the Georgist political philosophy but due to the unfortunate passing of Sun Yat-Sen in 1927, this third principle was never fully defined and remains open to interpretation.

The road to a united China has been a far from straightforward endeavour. There are both threats from within and without that could sweep away the effects of the revolution much like short lived ascension attempt of Emperor Yuan Shikai in 1915 fragmented the entire nation…

Welcome to a Hearts of Iron IV AAR by /u/Tammo-Korsai and /u/KaiserVonIkapoc

A threat from within…
The Communist Party of China, recently taken over by Mao Zedong, has regrouped in the mountainous province of Shaanxi (not to be confused with the neibouring warlord province of Shanxi) and is stubbornly resisting the advances of the National Revolutionary Army despite the gruelling slog of the Long March.

With the warlords loosely allied to the KMT and anti-communist in nature, the red blot on China’s map remains the most active threat for the time being.

… a threat from without…
As China has struggled to reunify, Imperial Japan has only grown stronger as its military clique hunger for further conquests after fabricating an incident in 1931. They used their false cassus belli to invade the outer province of Manchuria. With the Republic in no shape to resist, the province was yielded without a fight.

In order to create an air of legitimacy, the last true Chinese Emperor known as Puyi was appointed leader of the Manchukuo puppet state.

Tensions flared up in 1932 when a brief engagement erupted in Shanghai as Japan fabricated another incident to justify further combat by ‘defending’ its extraterritorial concessions in the city.

Since then, Japan has been content to let the Civil War play out and watch its back for the Soviet far eastern presence…

…and a force for change.

The Kuomintang is home to many internal factions, one of which is led by the liberal Sun Fo, son of the highly regarded Sun Yat-Sen. He successfully held the government together during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria by encouraging Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-Shek to withdraw their resignations over the incident in order to maintain stability. This was also partially due to his lack of influence and credibility within the party at the time…

His prime concern is to end the war against the communists in favour of preparing the nation to better resist Japanese encroachments and one day take the fight into Manchuria. For the time being, his objections are being ignored by Chiang…

Not every foreign presence in or around China is unwelcome…

In 1934, the capable capable Alexander von Falkenhausen took over the German military mission to China. With a cadre of some fifty advisers, he is working to reform the NRA into sixty high quality infantry divisions that will be able to face the Japanese not just with new equipment but with the discipline and doctrines needed to win a war.
The man himself is no stranger to the adviser role having worked with the Ottoman Empire in the Great War and was even part of the German contingent during the Boxer Rebellion. To further add to his credentials, he spent 1909-11 touring East Asia with his wife to learn about the region.

Politically, Falkenhausen has become distant from the Nazi party after his brother was murdered during The Night of the Long Knives. The idea of an Austrian corporal running his country also sits uncomfortably in his mind.

Germany has proven to be a trustworthy trade partner since it no longer has an empire and is thus not regarded as having potentially vested interests in the region like the British and French Empires. Over time, the trading has expanded into a modernization program for the National Revolutionary Army.

The lull after the Long March is to be used to improve the condition of the National Revolutionary Army for the final push on Shaanxi province. Part of this need can be met by updating machine tooling and purchasing various models of sub-machine guns from various European arms dealers. In turn, these will be reverse engineered and copied to save money in the long term.

The quality of our forces around the Yangtze river vary greatly in quality and must be brought up to a consistent standard. Both the German advisers and officers from the regiments they have trained will be roving around to give demonstrations and help the internal factions of the army see each other as more than just names on an order of battle. Such petty cliques could be our undoing should Japan encroach on our lands again.

Chiang Kai-Shek has finally convinced Shanxi Warlord Yan Xishan to launch a limited offensive into the Communist stronghold in a bid to interrupt their period of recuperation.

Xishan’s motley militia have proven to be more capable than Chiang’s inner circle expected. The Red Army has been thoroughly mauled but the Warlord is unwilling to press home the attack unless he is lavishly compensated and given some political clout in the KMT.

Bo Yibo personally observed the efforts of the Shanxi Clique against the Communists and has a wealth of new theories that have caught Chiang’s interest. He will be promoted to a posting in Nanjing to share his findings with the rest of the NRA.

The embarrassing defeat has prompted Mao to strengthen his political control of the region lest his credibility begins to slip. (Author’s note: I need to fix the inaccurate Mao portrait.)

The lull has proven to be relatively short since there was no official cease-fire. This time, the Communists have infiltrated areas well beyond Mao’s strongholds to agitate uprisings in the interior.

The incursion has proven to be worse than predicted. It will be necessary to call in some reserve units to quell the unrest.

Soldiers of a provincial army march off to a suspected communist outpost. They are equipped with padded uniforms for the cold conditions but operations in cold weather seldom inspire enthusiasm, especially for those who would rather be marching off to Manchuria.

Just as our reinforcements entered the hotspots, the Communist insurgents melted away and few were caught. Despite the few casualties we suffered, the Communist propaganda machine has spun it as a great and daring act of revenge against the ‘dogs’ who chased them during the Long March.

Part of the defeat has been attributed to our men being inadequately equipped or even missing basic essentials altogether. Sun Fo, a critique of Chiang’s inward-looking priorities, led the call for an investment in the outdated and undersized industrial sector since it would prove useful regardless of who is deemed the real enemy of China.

We are not the only country that remains in a state of disunity. The Spanish Republic recently fractured after a failed coup launched by General Franco tried to oust the left-wing coalition that narrowly won a closely called election. We will observe these developments carefully and apply what we learn to our research.

Just as we seek to rearm and strengthen the nation, our favoured trade partner in Europe is seeking to do the same. For now, it seems that the forces of democracy have no stomach to ignite another war.

Good news! Early production runs of our Krupp 75mm field guns have been completed! These precious few artillery pieces will be allocated only to our most reliable divisions for now. They will go first to the German trained formations are known as Reorganized Divisions and will continue to be prioritised for new equipment as it becomes available. This favouritism is not so appreciated by our less regular forces currently patrolling the unstable interior.

It seems that Sun Fo’s ‘Japan First’ policy is shared by part of the military as well.

The cynics claim this will not last, but the optimists dream of reforming the United Front should Japan grow hungry once more.

The KMT are now investing more time in improving the neglected political situation in parallel with the ongoing industrial developments. Chiang is slightly concerned that Sun Fo is eyeing up premiership of the party, but for now, he is unwilling to rock the boat.

Now that we have the equipment we need, the German advisers are setting to work on establishing a doctrine for the Pioneer Companies. Once the project is complete, the Reorganized Divisions will be allocated this new kind of support to better entrench themselves or lay the way for an attack in difficult terrain.

Industrial construction projects are alternating between new civilian and military factories to keep most of the KMT satisfied and generate more employment for people thinking of making the arduous trek to the Communist stronghold.

The pro-industrial crowd have lobbied Chiang to appoint an expert in the field to improve the drive to modernize.

Meanwhile, the fascist-backed Nationalists have completed their campaign of encircling and pocketing the diverse mix of loosely coordinated Republicans. Despite the communist presence within the Republicans, even Chiang Kai-Shek feels a touch of sympathy for a government that has seen its nation torn apart by foreign puppet strings.